I’ve been joking with a co-worker this afternoon that, given what happened today with the economic bailout package, and Wall Street’s reaction, we need to get to the grocery store to buy canned goods and ammo. Unfortunately, that may not be too far from reality. Most of the Republicans, and enough Democrats voted against the bail out plan that it failed and the Dow Jones Industrial Average nose-dived over 777 points. That’s the largest one day drop ever.

So what will happen next? I’m not sure, but this can easily turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy resulting in a downward spiral. The Asian and European markets will most likely have huge drops over night, which could result in even more declines on Wall Street tomorrow when trading resumes. I’m sure the pundits and reporters, along with the analysts, are all wringing their hands and predicting the end of the world as we know it, and that could cause just that result as confidence tumbles.

I’ve been getting emails from some outfit called True Majority. They’ve been stirring the pot, along with other organizations, to get people to contact their representatives and oppose the bailout. They think this a good thing, and that now Congress can fix things by:

Putting real regulations back on runaway financial corporations, and taking an ownership stake in exchange for any taxpayer support

Putting millions to work by investing in new green jobs and infrastructure

Investing in a health care plan to cover everyone

These are all certainly noble goals, and the whole Reaganomics idea that wealth trickles down has never worked. The wealthy get more wealthy only when the economy is producing jobs, and people have money to spend. This enriches those that own the means of production and the raw materials. Reaganomics shuts down the creation of additional wealth, and all the Bush Administration and the Republicans have done is enable a transfer of the existing wealth to a select few of their friends. Now it’s all been accumulated, and no additional wealth is being created.

The bullets above, published by this True Majority outfit, will result in the creation of new and additional wealth, and everyone can participate, so it’s a good thing, but these are long term fixes. If the economy completely crashes, none of the shit above means anything, as there won’t be the resources to accomplish it. Continue reading »

Some of you may know that James Holsinger has been nominated by Bush to be Surgeon General. So who is this goober (and a goober he is)? He’s the chairperson of the Methodist Supreme Judicial Committee that ruled it was OK for a Methodist minister to keep a gay person from joining his church.

I spoke to Holsinger, as I did to everyone on the committee. He’s arrogant, condescending, and one of the most homophobic and bigoted people I think I’ve ever come across. And all of that before I even knew about a document he’d once written, “Pathophysiology of Male Homosexuality.” You can read a review of the paper at Box Turtle Bulletin. It’s extremely poor scholarship.

The surgeon general nominee, facing tough questioning from Sen. Kennedy, has distanced himself from his own 1991 paper, “Pathophysiology of Male Homosexuality.”

The paper, which called homosexuality unhealthy and unnatural “does not represent where I am today. It does not represent who I am today,” Dr. James Holsinger said.

So, the guy bragged about, and presented it to the Methodist Church as gospel when it served his ends there…now it doesn’t serve his ends, so he’s changed his mind. He’ll make a great fit for the Bush Administration, but not for America.

Please contact your U.S. Senators and tell them to vote NO to the confirmation of James Holsinger for U.S. Surgeon General.

About Deep Something

This is my place to rant, rave and pontificate about anything that's on my mind. The topics frequently venture towards those never spoken about in polite company such as politics and religion. But, if you're provoked, comments are welcome.

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We could never learn to be brave and patient if there were only joy in the world.